Just click on this gorgeous photo (which comes from her blog, by the way) and read more about how using your muffin tins can help inspire children to try new foods and enjoy eating (and if you are a regular visitor to this blog, chances are you already own several muffin tins already!)

Whatever you do, do NOT miss out on this awesome blog post!

http://thebestmomontheblock.blogspot.com/2010/04/muffin-tin-lunch.html

THE MOST IMPORTANT MOVIE A CONSUMER COULD EVER WATCH WILL BE AVAILABLE ONLINE FOR FREE UNTIL TOMORROW. HURRY!

As a foodie and a mother, I know–from firsthand experience–that children learn best when their bodies are healthy. Recent studies prove that eating junky foods actually stifles a child’s ability to concentrate and hurts their academic performance (you can read about these studies by clicking here).

So I encourage every parent educator who has not yet watched the ultra-informative, powerful movie Food, Inc. to PLEASE spread the word about this limited time offering of Food, Inc. (TODAY ONLY) for FREE on the PBS web site! To watch it, click here: http://video.pbs.org/video/1472879887/

P.S. If your teens need help implementing healthy eating habits, you might want to watch this movie with them: http://www.alljackedupmovie.com/ (note: might not be suitable for younger children. Some eating disorder content).

Here’s the recipe:

1 and 1/4 cups of whole wheat flour

1 cup rolled oats

1 tablespoon baking powder

1 teaspoon baking soda

1 tablespoon cinnamon

1 and 1/2 teaspoons nutmeg

1/2 teaspoon salt

2 eggs

1/2 cup honey

1/2 cup sour cream

1/2 cup apple juice

2 cups diced apples (can substitute raisins or other diced fruits)

1/4 cup canola oil

Combine dry ingredients in a large bowl; set aside. Combine wet ingredients in a smaller bowl, then add apples. Pour entire mixture into dry ingredients and stir until just combined. Bake in greased mini muffin tins for 7-10 minutes at 400 degrees (or in regular-sized tins for 15-20 minutes).

This muffin’s pock-marked surface was caused by all the candy cane bits in the batter that melted away as the muffins baked. For a smoother surface, you can substitute peppermint extract and still get the warm, cozy flavor of candy canes and hot cocoa!

Here’s the recipe:

1.5 cups whole wheat flour

1/2 cup unsweetened cocoa

1 tablespoon baking powder

3-4 candy canes, crushed to very small bits (can substitute 1/2 tsp peppermint extract, added to liquid mixture)

1 cup brown sugar

2 large eggs

1 cup milk

6 tablespoons canola oil

Combine dry ingredients and set aside. Combine wet ingredients, then pour them into the dry mixture. Mix until just combined, then bake in well-greased mini muffin cups at 400 degrees for 8-11 minutes. Top with candy cane powder (the residue you’ll find in your chopper/food processor after crushing the candy canes).

Using summer squash gave these pancakes a beautiful golden color, and using the blender to grind my wheat made them super-healthy AND super easy, because I didn’t have to haul out the wheat grinder!

Here’s the recipe:

Squash N’ Wheat Blender Pancakes

• 1/2 cup of whole wheat grains
• 1/2 cup of oat groats, kamut, or spelt grains
• 1 cup of milk
• 1 large summer squash (or zucchini) quartered, with the seeds scraped out
• 2 eggs
• 1tsp salt
• 1/3 cup canola oil
• 2 tablespoons sugar or honey
• 1 tablespoon baking powder (for thicker, fluffier pancakes, use Rumford baking powder. See note, below)

Directions:

Place wheat, oat grains, and milk in the blender. (Note: you can also just use one full cup of wheat, but the pancakes won’t be as soft if you do)

Can you tell the difference? Oat groats on the left, wheat berries on the right!

Blend on high speed for two minutes. The resulting batter will be pretty thick:

Then add your quartered summer squash or zucchini pieces:

And blend on high speed for another minute or so. Add remaining ingredients EXCEPT baking powder. Blend to combine, then add in baking powder last of all and blend for another minute. If you are using Rumford baking powder,  the batter will visibly puff up and rise to the top of the blender. This makes the pancakes softer and fluffier than white flour pancakes, so kids will never notice the whole grains!

Pour batter onto hot griddle, and turn after bubbles start to appear on the surface:

The resulting pancakes look so yummy that your kids will never know that they’re loaded with veggies and whole grains:

These pancakes tasted so good that my eleven month-old devoured them, even WITHOUT syrup!

I invented these muffins last night, because my garden has produced quite the bumper crop of summer squash this year:

The resulting recipe turned out some very healthy, yet delicious muffins! In my pictures, you are seeing mini-muffins with mini chocolate chips (smaller muffins=less mess). But you could easily make them as regular-sized muffins with regular-sized chocolate chips, too!

Here’s the recipe:

Sugar Free Summer Squash Muffins

• 3 cups grated/shredded summer squash
• 1 cup honey
• 1 tsp. vanilla
• 1/2 cup canola oil
• 2 eggs

Slice the summer squash and remove their seeded centers. Shred the squash on the fine setting of your cheese grater or food processor. Place the zucchini on a finely woven cotton towel like this:

Next, close the towel around the squash and squeeze out excess liquid, like this:

You should end up with a play-doughy ball of summer squash pulp that looks like this:

Next, add honey, eggs, vanilla, and oil to the squash in a medium-sized bowl and stir to combine.

In a separate, larger bowl, combine the following:

• 2 cups whole wheat flour
• 1 cup white flour
• 1/2 tsp salt
• 1 tsp cinnamon
• 1 tsp baking powder
• 1/2 tsp baking soda
• 1 cup chopped nuts (or mini semi-sweet chocolate chips–which I use because otherwise my kids won’t eat muffins this healthy). Can also add chopped dates, craisins, or raisins.

Combine dry ingredients, then stir in the squash mixture. Next add:

• 1 egg white, beaten until thick and foamy

(Note: this egg white is optional, but I like to add it because it makes the muffins lighter, fluffier, and they puff out more in the pan when I add it).

Drop muffins into tins sprayed with canola oil cooking spray, using an ice cream scoop to ensure uniform sizes (or use a large cookie scoop for regular-sized muffin tins, since in this picture, I was using mini muffin tins)

Bake them at 375 degrees for 10-12 minutes (remember: this is for mini muffins. You want 15-20 minutes for regular-sized). These tasty muffins hide the vegetables so well, that all you see is a hint of gold on the inside (unlike zucchini, which leaves green tints in baked goods, thereby alerting my children to their healthy content!)

I made these muffins last night. Now that we have early church, I don’t have time to cook on Sunday mornings, so once the kids are up and dressed, I hand them each a baggie with 3 or 4 mini-muffins on our way out to the car. By the time we get to church, they eat them all gone! What a great way to have a quick–yet healthy!–breakfast.

With brown sugar in the batter and pineapple chunks in the center, these muffins taste so incredibly dessert-like that my kids devoured them without stopping to notice the coarse whole grain flour and precious little oil I used to make them! They gobbled them up so quickly that next time, I will have to double the batch if I want any leftovers to freeze for quick breakfasts on-the-run!

Here’s the recipe:

Pineapple Upsidedown Muffins

2 cups  fresh-ground whole wheat flour

2 teaspoons baking powder

1/4 teaspoon baking soda

1/2 teaspoon salt

1 large egg

3/4 cup brown sugar

1/4 cup canola oil

2/3 cup buttermilk (or regular milk mixed w/ 2 teaspoons vinegar and left to curdle for 5 min)

1 teaspoon vanilla extract (or 2 tsp imitation)

1 egg white, beaten until stiff

1 cup pineapple chunks, drained.

Combine dry ingredients in a large bowl. In a smaller bowl ,whisk together all remaining ingredients EXCEPT the egg white. Add wet ingredients to the large bowl and stir until just combined. Fold in the egg white until just combined.

Drop batter into canola-sprayed mini muffin cups using a mini cookie scoop. Press one pineapple chunk into the center of each muffin, then top with another half scoop of batter. Bake at 375 degrees for 8-10 minutes or until a toothpick inserted in the center comes out clean.

I like the convenience of breakfast bars, but hate the cost (four buck for six bars? COME ON!), added preservatives, high fructose corn syrups, and very environmentally not-friendly wasteful packaging!

And so I invented these–my yummy breakfast muffins, loaded with the tasty flavors of whole grain flour, oats, and fruit jam!

You can use any jam that you have on hand instead of the apricot jam I recommend, but I recommend it be something light in color (think marmalade*, peach jam, apple butter) or else your muffins will take on the pinkish or blue-ish hues of strawberry or grape jams!

Here’s the recipe

Breakfast Bar Muffins

1 cup quick oats

1 cup whole grain flour (can be wheat, spelt, seven-grain, whatever)

1/4 cup sugar (can substitute honey)

3 tsp baking powder

1/4 tsp salt

1 egg

1/2 cup fat free milk

2 tablespoons canola oil

1 cup apricot preserves (can substitute peach jam, apply jelly, or orange marmalade*)

1 tsp vanilla extract

1 egg white, beaten stiff

Mix dry ingredients in a large bowl until combined. In a separate bowl, mix egg, milk, oil, jam, and vanilla, then stir into dry ingredient. Fold in beaten egg white, then drop into greased muffins tins and sprinkle extra oats on top. bake at 400 degrees for 20-22 minutes for large muffins, or 8-10 minutes for mini-muffins (pictured here)

 * For an AMAZING do-it-yourself, environmentally-friendly homemade marmalade recipe and instructions, you have got to check out this recipe, from one of my favorite blogs ever!

Don’t be fooled by the outside appearance of this muffin! It’s cornbread-like appearance can be deceiving, but the muffin base is definitely not the sweet-salty flavor of cornbread! Instead, is is straight-up true tamale saltiness!

Inside each salty cornmeal muffin you can use whatever tamale filling you like best (and I have some suggestions, too!)

Here’s the recipe:

Zesty Tamale Muffins

1 and 1/2 cups fresh ground flour

1 cup cornmeal

2 teaspoons baking powder

1/4 teaspoon cumin

1 teaspoon salt

Combine these ingredients in a large bowl. In a separate bowl, combine the following:

1/3 cup canola oil

2 eggs

1 cup chicken or vegetable broth

Stir wet mix into the dry ingredients above. Then add:

1 egg white, beaten until stiff

Fold the beaten egg white into batter, then drop one scoop of batter into greased muffins tins, using an ice cream scoop. Top batter with a smaller scoop of taco meat, tamale filling, or my mixture* idea below:

You can also top this filling with chese, which I did not do in the photo, but which makes these much more kid-friendly.

Next, cover filling with a second ice cream scoop of the batter:

Bake at 400 degrees for twenty minutes, then allow to cool for ten minuted before removing from tins (when they’re really hot and soft, they can fall apart if you try to remove them from the tins too soon!).

These taste great when spread with sour cream!

*For my filling, I sauteed six ounces of chorizo sausage with a diced onion and minced garlic clove, then drained the oil and dropped it into the center of the tamale batter. This is spicy and not very kid-friendly, but I sure liked it!

And it isn’t brownie batter.

I call it “Brownie Sludge” because it is a cross between the two.

I invented it one day in my kitchen because my kids always beg to taste my brownie batter. But I never want to feed them raw eggs, so I started giving them the brownie batter *before* adding the eggs.

 The consistency of brownie batter before eggs is thick, rich, and fudgy! Soon my husband and I were scooping this stuff out with our fingers, then moving on to very large spoons.

When I’m dieting, I make it from boxed brownie mix by omitting the eggs and the oil and just adding the water called for on the back of the box. This quasi-diet sludge is even thicker!

The next time you make brownies, give it a try, and I guarantee your batter won’t make it into the oven, either!